And sent forth a raven pictures Noah releasing this bird at the opening to let it fly out. The raven is a black bird similar to the crow. Both belong to the family corvidae. See Fauna and Flora of the Bible, pages 67-68|fig:ffb_Raven.htm. The raven is listed in Lev 11.15 as an unclean bird. It would be able to survive away from the boat by eating dead animals floating on the water. The Septuagint adds “to see whether the water had subsided,” and this is followed by New English Bible, but not by Revised English Bible and other versions. This information may be needed in some languages to complete the sense.

It went to and fro may either mean that the raven flew from the boat and returned several times, or that it flew here and there but did not return. Good News Translation interprets the expression to mean the raven “did not come back” to the boat. Bible en français courant, on the other hand, says “He sent out a raven. It left and soon returned.” A number of translations suggest that the raven did not return, by saying “it flew back and forth waiting for…” (New Jerusalem Bible), “it kept flying back and forth until…” (New International Version), “the bird continued flying to and fro until…” (New English Bible). One Pacific translation states quite clearly that the raven did not return: “This bird flew away and didn’t come back. No. It flew around and around until the water dried up and the ground appeared.” But translators may follow either interpretation.

Until the waters were dried up from the earth does not mean that the raven returned to the boat when the flood had dried, but that it remained on the land after that time, or as Bible en français courant says, “It had to wait for the water to dry up on the land.” From the earth is understood but not stated in Good News Translation and others.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .